On social media, the Department of Homeland Security appeals to nostalgia — with motifs of White identity

CNN

3 days ago

A recruitment poster recently shared on the Department of Homeland Security's social media pages depicts Uncle Sam at a crossroads. In one direction point the words 'homeland' and 'opportunity.' Toward the other, 'invasion' and 'cultural decline.'
In its caption, the agency overseeing the country's immigration system presents these choices as an existential national struggle: 'Which way, American man?'
It's a sentiment that the agency is trying to wield to recruit new employees. Many of its posts implore viewers to apply for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been infused with a windfall of cash from President Donald Trump's landmark policy bill and hopes to hire 10,000 additional personnel to help with the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
But underlining the new strategy are undertones that historians and experts in political communication say are alarmingly nationalist — and fraught with appeals to a specifically White and Christian national identity.
'Persuaders succeed when they connect to emotional archetypes,' said Nicholas J. Cull, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California and historian of the role of mass communication in foreign policy. 'Fear is often the most prominent in propaganda, but nostalgia runs a close second.'
'Often they land like one/two punches in a classic boxing attack,' Cull said. 'That seems to be the intent here.'
In the caption of its post featuring Uncle Sam, DHS seems to allude to 'Which Way Western Man?,' a 1978 book by White nationalist William Gayley Simpson that is rife with antisemitic tropes and is a mainstay in modern White supremacist literature.
'Calling everything you dislike 'Nazi propaganda' is tiresome,' DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 'Uncle Sam, who represents America, is at a crossroads, pondering which way America should go.'
Other posts shared by the agency depict its employees as not only performing a public service, but also rendering an edict. Heavily armed men are depicted preparing for an operation while an overlaid Bible verse describes them as deliverers of a divine vengeance. Uncle Sam implores citizens to report 'foreign invaders,' join the ranks of ICE and 'step into the breach.' Pictures of handcuffed migrants flanked by masked agents are interspersed with calls to 'remember your Homeland's Heritage' and 'defend your culture!'
'The siren song of the far right, whether we call them authoritarian or fascist, is to foment a counterrevolution against a revolution that never was,' said Democratic political strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio. ''Do you know why you feel down and out? Do you know why you feel challenged? Do you know why you feel out of place in your own society? It's because of those people.''
McLaughlin said DHS 'honors artwork that celebrates America's heritage and history' and is 'pleased that the media is highlighting our efforts to showcase these patriotic pieces.'
Included in the posts are tinges of a Rockwellesque nostalgia for an America that was traditional, religious — and on its surface, racially homogenous. After Trump declared Monday he would take over the Washington, DC, police department and rid the city of 'Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum,' DHS posted on Instagram a 1943 image of the US Capitol captioned with: 'We Can Return.' The agency's ambiguity about what it means by words like 'heritage' and 'homeland' leaves their use open to several interpretations.
'This is an active effort to promote lies designed to create fear and hysteria in a population,' said Ian Haney López, a professor of public law at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of a book on the use of dog whistles in politics. 'It's often associated with war-time efforts.'
'The United States has certainly engaged in' previous propaganda campaigns, he said, but DHS' posts are most reminiscent of 'demagogic eras' in other countries.
For decades, historians have used John Gast's 1872 painting 'American Progress' to demonstrate the concept of manifest destiny, the idea popular in the 19th century that America's westward expansion was destined by Providence and rooted in an Old Testament concept of a 'chosen' people.
The painting depicts a woman, a personification of America, unspooling telegraph wire as she heralds settlers, education and new technology to sparsely populated land. Indigenous people and bison flee before them. As the Anglo settlers overtake Native Americans, the sky turns from dark to light.
On July 23, DHS posted a picture of the painting on its social media with the caption: 'A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.'
A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.American Progress - John Gast pic.twitter.com/agU6bl8TZ8 Patrick Fontes, a history professor at Clovis Community College in Fresno, California, who has lectured on 'American Progress,' described the painting as 'laden and saturated with racism.'
'And if you don't know the history, you wouldn't know that,' he added. 'But DHS knows the history behind this — it's a manifesto that's laden with racial connotations and bloody 19th century history against those who were not Anglo American.'
The department said in its statement to CNN that the Trump administration 'is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage.'
DHS is not the only government agency trying new tactics to draw attention or solicit engagement. But government agencies typically 'avoid leaning into using those types of posts to explain policy decisions,' said Kristy Dalton, the founder and CEO of Government Social Media, a network of professionals who operate government social accounts. 'I think that that's the unique part of what we're seeing here.'
DHS' posts provide the agency with engagement that could bolster its strategic vision. The agency's new posts are heavily geared toward recruitment — images of Uncle Sam pointing toward the viewer with the phrase 'Join ICE Today' and paired with captions like 'Secure the Golden Age' and 'Protect. Serve. Deport.'
Other DHS posts include AI-generated artwork aiming to respond to news of the day or troll ICE's detractors.
'On the one hand, you get a lot of engagement with this type of light-hearted content, and that's something that we see with government agencies who are experimenting with it,' Dalton said. 'On the other hand, how do you ensure that you build trust with everyone, with all Americans?'
Some owners of artwork shared by the agency are not pleased. DHS has been asked by several artists, or their foundations, whose creations have been shared by the agency to stop using their work.
On July 14, DHS posted a painting by the artist Morgan Weistling titled 'A Prayer for a New Life,' which depicts a White pioneer family praying while holding a baby inside a covered wagon. The agency captioned the image: 'Remember your Homeland's Heritage,' and incorrectly titled the painting: 'New Life in a New Land.'
Weistling told CNN in an email that he 'was never contacted by DHS and this was done completely without my permission.'
'They even changed the title of the painting to fit whatever they were trying to say,' he added. 'It's a complete misuse of my copyrighted material.'
Another post features a painting by the artist Thomas Kinkade titled 'Morning Pledge,' which depicts schoolchildren gathered around an American flag in an idealist suburban setting. It is captioned: 'Protect the Homeland.'
The family foundation for Kinkade, who died in 2012, said it strongly condemns 'the sentiment expressed in the post and the deplorable actions that DHS continues to carry out.'
'Like many of you, we were deeply troubled to see this image used to promote division and xenophobia associated with the ideals of DHS, as this is antithetical to our mission,' the foundation said in a statement, adding that it has asked the agency to remove the post and is exploring its legal options.
One band whose song is featured in a recruitment video the agency posted to Instagram sent a cease and desist letter, only for it to be rebuffed.
The video depicts law enforcement surveying the borderlands from a helicopter, accompanied by dialogue from a movie quoting Isaiah 6:8 — a verse in which the subject declares a willingness to serve God. It's also accompanied by the alternative rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's copyrighted rendition of 'God's Gonna Cut You Down,' a traditional American folk song that talks of divine punishment as the consequence of sin.
The band was outraged and demanded DHS stop using its music. In a July 30 response obtained by CNN, a DHS lawyer declined to comply. The audio has since been removed from the video on X and Instagram; a person involved with the band's management told CNN that occurred after it complained to both companies.
'DHS's use promotes the public interest, as its purpose is to advance the work of a government agency — specifically removing dangerous illegal aliens from our communities,' a lawyer for the agency wrote in its response.
If attention is what DHS is seeking in its new strategy, there are some indications it is paying off. Among federal agencies on social media, DHS routinely receives a significant amount of engagement — and job applications. The agency announced this week it has received more than 100,000 applications over the past two weeks.